Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, A Geeky Life for Me!

April 16th, 2007

I turned my computer into a Pirate computer!

My current computer -- the desktop model that resides in my red pirate office -- has a glossy black case. It's rather lovely compared to the ugly "putty" colored cases I've had in the past, but it doesn't have much character. Plus, it's huge so that it can accommodate all the disc drives I put inside. I swear, you'd think I was running a server if you saw it. 

I had taken the side panel off earlier in the week and carried it down to the studio. Saturday night, I taped a fleur-de-lys stencil to the panel with blue tape. (Because, you know, the closer to midnight it is, the more important it becomes to start a brand new project.) I didn't do anything to prepare the panel other than clean it. I wasn't going to be painting in a spot where my hands go, so I figured the paint would stay on. I used Golden Iridescent Bronze heavy body paint (oh, don't you just want to eat it with a spoon?!?) and a little stencil brush to swirl the paint on.

 

CPU Case panel with stencil taped on

 

Once I had the entire design painted, I then mixed some of the same paint with Golden Heavy Gel/Hard Molding Paste. Using an angled paint spatula, I skimmed the thick molding paste onto just the fleur-de-lys part of the design. I smoothed it out so that while it was still raised, you couldn't see peaks or spatula marks in the paste.

I imediately took off the stencil while everything was still wet. Using a narrow, pointy brush, I filled in the stencil breaks with the bronze paint. I set the panel aside to dry.

In the morning, I put the panel on the computer, and voila! A computer that an 18th century pirate would be proud to own! 

 

Glossy black computer case with bronze fleur de lys design on side

 

 (Yeah, I know...I have a serious need for cable management. That's not even the worst of it.)

Here's a detail photo of the design -- see how the very center is a bit three-dimensional? 

 

Closeup of gold design on case showing 3D effect of center fleur de lys

 

I loved this so much, the next night I ran into the office at 11:30 to do a three-dimensional fleur-de-lys on the front panel, too. 

 

Front panel of computer with 3D bronze fleur-de-lys

 

Here's the messy full view:

 

entire computer case with bronze paint work on front and side panels

 

The glossy black is reflecting the baseboards and such, so it looks a little funky on the side. But it's lovely in person!

Perhaps I should see if my printers need some attention next....

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